Thousands of young people across the Morecambe Bay area have been actively involved with the Bay Health and Care Partners (BHCP) Careers and Engagement Team over the last 12 months.
The team have promoted hundreds of NHS job roles to more than 17,000 young people in a bid to create the workforce of the future.
David Wilkinson, Director of People and Organisational Development at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), said it showed a clear commitment from the Trust that it was investing in young people.
“I’m extremely proud of the BHCP Careers and Engagement Team who put a huge amount of time and work into inspiring and attracting new recruits,” he said.
“There are hundreds of jobs available in the NHS, from engineering to catering. While we will always need doctors, nurses and other professions allied to medicine, the opportunities are far more wide-ranging. There is a whole host of careers for young people to pursue in areas not normally associated with Healthcare and the NHS.”
Events have included careers weekends and open days at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust’s (UHMBT) Furness General Hospital (FGH) and Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) where young people have had the opportunity to talk to nurses, doctors, scientists and the Catering and Estates teams about their different roles.
74 students have taken part in work experience placements across UHMBT and more than 200 people have spent time shadowing staff on wards and departments to gain experience in areas such as IT, Human Resources, Catering and Maintenance.
Vicky Lumley, Careers and Engagement Lead for Bay Health and Care Partners, said: “The feedback from our work experience programmes is always hugely positive. We are one of the few NHS trusts in the country that offer work experience weeks for students under the age of 16, so it is always very popular with schools and students alike. We have supported other trusts with the setting up of similar programmes to ensure that the offer is equitable for students across Cumbria and Lancashire.”
Other events the team has supported include:
- A patient journey event at the RLI for students from different social, cultural and educational backgrounds, organised in collaboration with University of Cumbria, Lancaster University, University of Central Lancashire and Edgehill University;
- Blue Light and Healthcare events which promote careers in Health and Care to school-aged children;
- Pre-employment programmes designed to support local unemployed adults to gain skills and relevant experience with the aim of helping them to become work-ready. The programme has seen two participants gain permanent contracts with UHMBT;
- An internship programme for young adults who have learning difficulties which provides them with the opportunity to gain work experience and build their confidence. The programme is being run in partnership with Right2Work team and the Oaklea Trust charity.
The next Healthcare Careers Open Day will take place at Furness General Hospital on Saturday 5 October 2019.
Please send any enquiries or requests for work experience to work.experience@mbht.nhs.uk
For more information about our events and programmes, including current job and apprenticeship vacancies, see www.betterwithyou.co.uk
